Royal, Clifford Twp. – Several couples from Dundaff, Nicholson and Carbondale attended the grand hop held in the hall of the Hotel Royal, last Saturday night, given by Bill Purvis, of Scranton. The attenders of this vicinity report the finest dance of the season. The next one will be here will be on Thanksgiving Eve. ALSO C. G. Stephens’ steam saw mill, a new mill, burned up last week. No insurance; loss, probably $1000. This makes five steam saw mills that have burned up in and near this vicinity within the last two or three years.

Franklin Forks – The Ladies Aid of the M. E. church will hold their annual supper at the Alliance Hall, Wednesday night, Nov. 26. Price of supper, 15 and 20 cents. Proceeds to be applied on pastors’ salary.

Elk Lake, Dimock Twp. – L. L. Hunsinger has his birch distillery nearly completed and will start distilling birch in a few days.

Liberty Twp. – The school house at Rhiney Creek took fire on Tuesday and but for the prompt assistance of school director, E. S. Fish, might have been in ruins. It was found that the fire started beneath the chimney as it was laid on plank instead of stone.

Montrose – Mrs. Barry Searle has been elected as a delegate to the State Association on the American Woman’s Suffrage Association, to be held in Washington D. C. this month. ALSO Negotiations are now being concluded whereby the Montrose Electric Light Co. passes into the hands of the Susquehanna Company and the current will be brought from Susquehanna, where the later company has extensive water power and J. J. Mackin is now superintending the building of the conveying lines to Montrose. We are to have night and day service. The deal involves franchise, charter, poles, lines, etc., but does not include real estate nor generating plant.

Hallstead – Charles Banker, who for the past five years has been the superintendent of the silk mill, has resigned his position and with his family has gone to Hanover, Pa., where he has a promising position. ALSO Charged with stealing two bushels of potatoes from the Cliff orchard farm, owned by Moxley & Merrill, a few miles above Hallstead, Grover Crandall, a resident of Smoky Hollow, was arrested and taken before Squire C. L. Crook. It is claimed that after Crandall and other men working with him, digging potatoes, quit work Monday night, that Crandall, after dark, slipped back to the field and hid two bushels of potatoes intending to dispose of them later.

Brooklyn – C. A. Rozell, the Brooklyn gardener, still continues his regular Tuesday and Saturday trips. Binghamton, Scranton, Nicholson and other towns are also visited almost as readily as Montrose, Mr. Rozell finding his recently purchased auto truck a great convenience in rapidly moving big loads of produce. During the fall he has sold many thousands of bunches of celery and other produce in these places.

Elkdale – Elkdale Grange, the youngest Grange in the county, is now looking forward to prosperous and comfortable days. The Grange has purchased a building and grounds, which, with the outlay of not more than $150 for alterations and improvements, will give them comfortable quarters.

South Gibson – Clinton Risley, of Atlantic City, and Miss Mary Reynolds, of this place, were married in New York city Oct. 31. Mr. Risley is proprietor of two dyeing establishments, one in Philadelphia, and they are now living on Pacific ave., Atlantic City.

Stevens’ Point – Roland Kuhn lost his life Sunday morning when he alighted from a fast freight train, on which he and a party of friends had secured a ride from Susquehanna. The young man was struck by an express train coming in the opposite direction and his skull fractured, bringing instant death. The accident occurred near Lanesboro, the body being taken to Susquehanna where it was prepared for burial, the funeral occurring in the Stevens’ Point Methodist church on Tuesday afternoon.

Springville – Wm. S. Beebe is hale and hearty, although past 77 years of age. For the past 25 years he has resided near Springville, coming there from Tunkhannock, where as a boy he recalls the building of the first Wyoming county court house. He was born in Kingston, but moved to Wyoming county with his parents when four years old. He saw considerable service in the Civil War and was with Sherman in the “march to the sea.”

Rush – The High school basketball meet was largely attended. The first game resulted in a score of 11 to 6 in favor of Rush, while the game between the girls resulted in favor of the Auburn team by a score of 9 to 4. The last game between the second teams resulted in favor of the Rush team by a score of 19 to 8.

Lenox Twp. – Eight little girl friends of Adeline Brundage made her a surprise party on her eighth birthday, on Saturday, and had a most enjoyable time.

Cut-off News – The Lackawanna railroad cut-off from Clark’s Summit to Hallstead is about half completed. Fifty percent of the grading is done and about 42 per cent of the bridge work completed. The new line will shorten the distance just 3.6 miles, but many curves will be eliminated and the grade considerably lessened so that pusher engines will be done away with, except between Scranton and Clark’s Summit. Not many years will be required to save the cost of the millions being put into the cut-off by the doing away of the pusher service alone. Nearly 13½ million cubic yards will be excavated and the estimated cost is 18 million. Twenty-six passenger and milk trains, 16 manifest freights and 31 slow freights pass over the track between Hallstead and Clark’s Summit every day in the year.

Court News: Mrs. Clara Rose was sentenced to not more than 7 years or less than 2½ years in the penitentiary. When asked by the Judge Little if she had anything to say why she should not receive sentence at this time she replied, “If there ever was an innocent woman I am, if the Lord should strike me dead,” She stated she had cared for her husband’s wounds and according to Mrs. Rose’s story she was a loving wife. Judge Little reminded her that she had a fair trial, was ably defended and the jury found her guilty. Leon Granger was sent to penitentiary for a term of not more than 3 or less than

2½ years. [See last week’s 100 Years for the trial of Mrs. Rose and Leon Granger.]

News Brief: When a young man tells a girl that he is unworthy of her, if she was wise she’d believe him.

A few weeks ago, I received a call from a news reporter at a local television station looking for some background regarding animal cruelty laws – more specifically, the punishment that arises from an animal cruelty case.  The reporter noted that whenever the news station did a story on an abused animal case, the general public’s reaction was that the offender did not receive enough punishment.  She was looking for an explanation to provide to the viewers as to why animal abusers did not receive more punishment.

The answer to that question could never be covered in a short news story – and it would require some education on how sentencing works in Pennsylvania.  Regardless of the criminal offense, Pennsylvania has sentencing guidelines that provide a framework for sentencing those convicted of a criminal offense.  The guidelines consider a large variety of factors – but the two most important factors that drive a sentencing guideline are (1) the offense gravity score (OGS); and (2) the prior record score (PRS). 

The OGS is simply how serious is the offense for which the person has been convicted.  Under our guidelines, every criminal offense is assigned an OGS – and it can fall between 1 and 14, with 1 being the least serious offenses (third degree misdemeanors) and 14 being the most serious offenses (first degree violent felonies).  The OGS for each criminal offense is assigned by the Sentencing Commission – a group of multi-disciplinary professionals that meet and debate the appropriate weight to provide to criminal offenses.  The Commission includes members from each part of the criminal justice system: prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, as well as members of the Legislature, a law professor, a victim advocate, a representative from the Department of Corrections as well as the Board of Probation and Parole.  In other words, there are a lot of different voices and views represented in the Commission.

The PRS is determined based upon a particular offender’s prior convictions and the weight of those convictions.  Every criminal offense in Pennsylvania not only has an OGS, but it also has a prior record score point assigned to it by the Sentencing Commission.  In reviewing an offender’s criminal history, the prior convictions are pulled out and reviewed to determine how many “points” the person has accumulated over the course of their adult criminal life (and to some extent prior juvenile convictions may have an impact as well).  After an offender’s OGS and PRS are known, you can look at the sentencing matrix to get an idea of the range recommended sentencing options that a sentencing judge must consider prior to sentencing an offender.

Our sentencing guidelines are not mandatory; rather, they are advisory.  But a sentencing judge must demonstrate at the time of sentencing that he or she has considered those guidelines – as well as the other relevant factors that the guidelines mandate a sentencing court to consider prior to sentencing a criminal defendant.  A sentencing judge may decide that the guidelines do not adequately address the particular case and simply decline to follow the recommended guideline ranges.  In order for a judge to deviate from the guidelines in a meaningful way, the courts require that the sentencing judge place on the record the reasons that the guidelines are not appropriate for this particular offender.  The appellate courts have made clear that a sentencing judge would need to explain what it is about this particular offender or offense that makes it different that the typical offender envisioned by the guidelines with the same OGS and PRS.

With that general background, I have not even begun to address the initial question posed by the news reporter: why don’t animal abusers get stiffer sentences?  The answer to that question is not an easy one – it depends upon the grading of the offense (determined by the Legislature as signed into law by the Governor), the offense gravity score of the offense (determined by the Sentencing Commission), the prior record score of the offender (determined by his or her prior history), the particular circumstances of that individual offender that either mitigate or aggravate the sentencing range, and the general decision made by the sentencing judge after hearing arguments from the prosecutor, defense attorney and any victim impact, i.e., the owner of the abused animal assuming the owner is not the perpetrator of the abuse.  While we often want a quick and easy explanation for things, sentencing decisions simply do not fall into that category.

Please submit any questions, concerns, or comments to Susquehanna County District Attorney’s Office, P.O. Box 218, Montrose, Pennsylvania 18801 or at our website www.SusquehannaCounty-DA.org or discuss this and all articles at http://dadesk.blogspot.com/.